MURDER IN TOTAL SECRECY ON SUHARTO'S ORDERS ON
APRIL 12,1966:
DR. CHRIS SOUMOKIL, ML ‼️
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Dr. Chris Soumokil, ML., was one of the founders of the Republic of South Maluku, a great hero of the Maluku nation. He was a primus interparis among the Maluku independence fighters.
Who is Dr. Chris Soumokil ML really and what does he mean to the Maluku people? The life path of Dr. Chris Soumokil ML Dr. Christiaan Robbert Steven Soumokil M.L. was born on October 13, 1905 in Surabaya (Java). He attended school in Surabaya and Semarang in what was then the Dutch East Indies before coming to Leiden in the Netherlands to complete high school. After that he studied Dutch East Indies law at Leiden University. He completed his studies in 1934 with a doctorate for his thesis Dutch-Indonesian jurisprudence - substantive criminal law studies. In January 1935 he went on the mail ship Dempo from Rotterdam to Java, where he became deputy public prosecutor in 1939. In Surabaya he was appointed Land Judge. At the outbreak of World War II, he was required to undergo military service as a Dutch citizen. In 1942, the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies began. Soumokil was captured by the Japanese. He was interned and taken to camps in Burma and Siam in Southeast Asia. After World War II, Soumokil worked as a prosecutor at a military court handling war crimes in Jakarta. In late 1946, Soumokil was transferred to Makassar. He served there as Attorney General and, from June 1947 to February 1950, was Minister of Justice (federal) for the state of East Indonesia in five consecutive cabinets. In 1949, he also became Deputy Minister-President and frequently served as Acting Prime Minister. On 27 December 1949, the Netherlands transferred sovereignty over the Dutch East Indies, except for New Guinea, to the Republic of the United States of Indonesia (RIS), after making an agreement on this at the 1949 Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference. 
Known as a vocal opponent of the pursuit of a unitary state, Soumokil was removed from the new cabinet and appointed Attorney General at the Court in March 1950.
Chris Soumokil, who had played a key role in the government of East Indonesia, was a driving force behind several attempts to keep the country afloat, such as the military coup of Andi Aziz and the attempt to establish an independent East Indonesia (April 1950). When that failed and the country was handed over to a republican-dominated central government, he moved to Ambon on April 16, 1950. The dissolution of the state was announced on 19 April 1950. On April 23, a rapid meeting of several politicians and Ambon regents took place in Tulehu. At Soumokil's suggestion, those present ultimately decided that there was no other option than the proclamation of an "independent, free, and sovereign Republic of South Maluku." They then submitted the decision to the South Maluku Regency administrators present in Ambon. Regent J.H. Manuhutu and several members of the South Maluku Council objected, among other things |
because not all members could be consulted in such a short time. Feeling threatened and pressured by the soldiers present, they asked for time to consider. The next day, at the Kilat Congress (emergency conference) with more than a thousand people, Manuhutu conceded and stated: 'I proclaim South Maluku independent and sovereign, separate from the State of East Indonesia and the Republic of the United States of Indonesia, as requested by Soumokil'.
On August 17, 1950, President Sukarno proclaimed the Unitary State of Indonesia, and after negotiations and a blockade, the Indonesian army launched an invasion of Ambon on September 28. More than a month after the invasion began, the capital of Ambon fell to Indonesian forces on November 5. Between May and October 1950, various groups of "berets" and other KNIL soldiers crossed from Ambon to Seram. Soumokil, unwilling to fall into Indonesian hands, also joined in. Soumokil was president of South Maluku from May 3, 1950 to December 2, 1963. He is the successor of the first president of the RMS, J.H. Manuhutu. 
When the resistance in Ambon proved futile in the first days of December 1950, other members of the Republic of South Maluku government also fled to Seram.
In the isolated interior of Seram, Republic of South Maluku fighters continued to wage a small-scale guerrilla war. They hoped for international support, but it was never forthcoming. On December 2, 1963, Indonesian troops captured Soumokil on Seram, after which the guerrilla war quickly ended. Soumokil's trial took place in April 1964. 
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